Students
who have staged Iran's biggest pro-reform protests in three years claimed
a victory for freedom of speech as Iran's supreme leader ordered a review
of the death sentence against a dissident academic. The week-long student
rallies and strikes in support of history lecturer Hashem Aghajari,
condemned to hang for blasphemy, had raised political tension at a crucial
stage in the power battle between Iran's reformists and hard-liners.
This photo shows a university student holding a picture of Ahmad Batebi,
a student imprisoned after the 1999 university riots, during a demonstration
at Tehran's Amir Kabir University.

December
3

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I
signed the refinance papers for my house yesterday, I'm in my 3 day
cooling off period. I'm exceited and nervous to finally get this
process finished after 8 months of searching.

December
4

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I'm
glad to see that some organizations are finally starting to stand up
for the beliefs and standards that they profess to value and teach to
their members. A "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy is not an effective
way to maintain the core values of a group and effectively teach those
values to others. Darrell Lambert of Port Orchard,
Washington holds the termination letter he received from the Chief Seattle
Council of the Boy Scouts of America revoking Lambert's registration
as an adult scout leader. Lambert's membership was rejected after he
revealed that he was an atheist. He is planning to appeal the ejection
to Boy Scout's higher headquarters and is prepared to take the case
to the Supreme Court.

December
5

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Study:
Iraq War Could Cost $1.9 Trillion

In
the worst case, a war with Iraq could cost the United States almost
as much as the government spent in the last budget year — nearly $2
trillion, according to new projections. Researchers concluded
in a study released that war with Iraq could cost the United States
from $99 billion to more than $1.9 trillion over a decade. The
lower figure assumes a successful military, diplomatic and nation-building
campaign; the higher figure assumes a prolonged war with a disruption
of oil markets and a U.S. recession, the authors say in a study by the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Both figures assume a U.S.
involvement in the country for 10 years. White House spokesman
Gordon Johndroe said it was premature to comment on cost estimates.
"War is the last resort," he said. "We're hoping for a peaceful solution." The 1991 Persian
Gulf War cost America an estimated $61 billion, but allies reimbursed
all but about $7 billion. By some accounting methods, the United States
may have even made a profit. Direct military spending could range from
$50 billion in a short campaign to $140 billion in a prolonged war with
Iraq, said the study titled, "War With Iraq: Costs, Consequences and
Alternatives." The study was done by the academy's Committee on International
Security Studies. The report cautioned that aside from the estimates
of direct military costs, all the numbers should be "regarded as informed
conjecture." Occupation and peacekeeping costs could be $75 billion
in the best case to $500 billion in the worst, the study said. Reconstruction
and nation- building costs are estimated at $30 billion to $105 billion,
and humanitarian aid at $1 billion to $10 billion. A prolonged disruption
of world oil markets could cost the U.S. economy up to $778 billion,
the researchers estimated. On the other hand, Iraq's huge oil resources
could satisfy U.S. needs for imported oil at current levels for almost
a century and otherwise benefit the economy by $40 billion. A
short war could actually benefit the United States in terms of its macroeconomic
impact, which includes employment, by $17 billion. A long war, in contrast,
could have a $391 billion negative effect. The American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, founded in 1780 and based in Cambridge, Mass., is an international
society of scientists, scholars, artists, business people and political
leaders.

December
6

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Norwegian
Teen Denies DVD Cyber-Piracy Charges

OSLO
(Reuters) - A Norwegian teen-ager pleaded not guilty Monday to charges
of illegally making software that copies movies, in a landmark case
seen as a battle between cyber Davids and corporate Goliaths. Jon Johansen,
known in Norway as "DVD Jon," is charged with helping to crack a code
and develop and distribute a program on the Internet enabling users
to make unauthorised copies of DVD movies. Prosecutor Inger Marie Sunde
told an Oslo court Johansen worked with people in Germany, the Netherlands,
Britain, Russia and the United States on making and publishing the program
in 1999 and 2000, when he was 15 and 16 years old."It's
been seen as a fight of David against Goliath. A 15 to 16-year-old who
took on the U.S. movie industry," Sunde told the court. "But his acts
are clearly illegal." Judge Irene Sogn, flanked by two experts, will
hear the case against Johansen, now 19. The trial is due to last five
days. Johansen could face up to two years in jail or be ordered to pay
fines or compensation. Major Hollywood studios,
which code DVDs to prevent unauthorised copying, have already taken
legal action against several people in the United States who displayed
the DeCSS program, allegedly developed by Johansen, on their Web Sites.U.S. and Canadian
DVD and video sales totaled an estimated $20 billion this year. Hollywood
says unauthorised copying of DVDs is stealing copyright material. Some
5,000 copies of DeCSS are thought to have been downloaded from the web
in the months after it was made available in 1999, prompting the U.S.
Motion Picture Association (MBA), representing Hollywood, to file a
complaint in Norway. DeCSS is one of many programs available on the
Internet to break DVD protection codes.

December
7

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of the Day

In
a state where everything seems bigger, a Plano,Texas Bapist Church is
staging a Texas supersized Christmas pageant. Members of the Prestonwood
Baptist Church began participating in the church's annual Christmas
pageant, in Plano, Texas. The stage for the production measures 15,000
square feet, triple the size of the one in New York's Radio City Music
Hall.

December
8

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of the Day

An
upgraded model of Honda Motor Co. 's walking robot Asimo raises its
hand to greet an unidentified Honda employee during a press unveiling
at the Japanese automaker's headquarters in Tokyo. The 1.2 meter (four-foot)
tall machine, that already knew how to walk, climb stairs and recognize
voices, now also understands human gestures and movement by using the
visual information taken by a camera in its head to recognize 10 different
preprogrammed faces.

December
9

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A
wooden artificial toe, from the third intermediate period (about 3000-years-old),
is displayed still attached to the foot of the mummy of an old woman,
at a new gallery at the Cairo museum. Egypt has blown the dust from
250 ancient artifacts locked in the basement of the Egyptian museum
in Cairo and store rooms across the country to show off some of its
wealth of hidden treasures, in a display launched today on the centennial
of the museum.

December
10

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of the Day

Visitors
stroll through the Atlantic aquarium section of Valencia's new Oceanografic
Marine Park . Oceanografic, Europe's biggest oceanarium with 45,000
living creatures of 500 different species and covering an area of 110,000
square meters, the equivalent to 15 Olympic swimming pools, was
inaugurated December 12. The aquarium recreates the world's most important
marine ecosystems so as to enable research and teaching involving the
water environment, and to contribute to the protection of marine life.

December
11

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of the Day

A
one-week-old baby lion lets out its first roar at the zoo in San Salvador
, El Salvador as its mother Patanga watches on.

December
12

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of the Day

Its
interesting to see how so many people think we are going to war with
Iraq and other countries over just oil.

December
13

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of the Day

A
three-year-old Shih Tzu named Ren, a regular Dead Sea mud pack customer,
relaxes as he is massaged by Pet Salon Jannie's groomer Seiren Suzuki
during an aesthetic skin treatment in Tokyo. The salon, exclusive for
pets, offers human-quality mudpacks with imports from Israel, starting
at a price of 10,000 yen (about $82) for small dogs. Owners are happy
with the deep cleansing treatment which they say improves skin conditions
and hair.

December
14

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The
company xmas party was at Demi-Epicurious tonight from 7-11. After
conversing and enjoying too much gourmet food Erin & I returned
home to enjoy our 3rd story view and the comforts of home.Smithfield the pig demonstrates
his artistic talent for an audience at the LaPrade branch library in
Richmond, Va. The program 'Pet Star' has invited Smithfield to Los Angeles.
The Vietnamese potbelly and his 'mom,' Fran Martin, will appear on the
program's premiere, Jan. 10 or the following week.

December
15

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Went
to a christmas reunion play this evening for Dawn's church. It
was a interesting play, but one where christ was seamingly removed from
most of the play. It was more an overall moral lessions than the
lessons and storyline of christmas. It was definitely interesting
though to have such a large group of people like that in a church, I'd
estimate it could easily hold 5,000 people in the auditorium style seating.
I think I'll stick to the more traditional xmas plays in the future
though, as watching mariachi dancers next to a choir of angels and the
manger scene is just too od for me.

December
16

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of the Day

Had
a nice therapy session for the first time today in a while, smid the
choas of work, and trying to close buildings or get them under contract.
Looking forward to the relaxing christmas break over to Houston.
After a weekend of shopping and fighting the crowds, it seems like I
barely made a dent in my shopping list.A passenger train carries Islamic
pilgrims returning after a 3-day Islamic congregation in Tongi, Bangladesh,
15 kilometers (10 miles) north of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The three-day Islamic
congregation which began Dec. 13, had participants from nearly 80 countries,
and aimed to discuss Islam and the problems it faces today.

December
17

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Rubaba
master Gulam Hussein, 40, sees off his disciples at end of a class with
his son Ahmed in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. Hussein, who returned
from Pakistan five months ago, left Afghanistan because the Taliban
outlawed music. Hussein, Kabul's renowned musician for the last 29 years,
has trained 65 rubab students. He is teaching 13 new students, who want
to revive the rubab, a short-necked lute which is Afghanistan's national
instrument.

December
18

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of the Day

A
part of the Earth Simulator, the fastest supercomputer in the world,
is seen in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo. Running 35.6 trillion calculations
per second, the Earth Simulator is the fastest supercomputer in the
world, almost five times faster than the next best one and as fast as
the top 20 U.S. supercomputers combined.

December
19

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of the Day

Will
gas ever become this valuable in the US that it will need protection
from the public?A Venezuelan army soldier
directs traffic at a gas station in Maracaibo in western Venezuela,
on the 17th day of a general strike seeking the ouster of President
Hugo Chavez. The strike has reduced Venezuela's oil output from nearly
3 million to 400,000 barrels per day, sending the world price of crude
oil above $30 a barrel and depriving Venezuela of $50 million daily
in export income.

December
20

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December
21

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Drove
over to Houston to spend a few days with my parents and sisters.
The dining room was miraculously cleaned in a few hours to make room
for a new queen mattress set I purchased at the foley's outlet store.
There's no xmas gift like finding a $1700 matress for $550.

December
22

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of the Day

Finished
up some last minute xmas shopping for my family and enjoyed the frequent
rain showers throughout the day.Artist Ken Feingold represents the
newest of media at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, at an exhibit
entitled 'Fantasy Underfoot'. Feingold's multimedia installation, 'Sinking
Feeling', 2001, consists of a bald bespeckled talking head, a self-portrait,
planted in a flower pot.

December
23

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of the Day

View
a entire neighbirhood contest for the best xmas lights, with themes
for each street. Visitors look at a building carved
in ice, the highest of its kind exhibited at the 29th Harbin ice lantern
art exhibition, in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province. Divided into 10 parts, the exposition shows 2003 fine ice
carving works.

December
24

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of the Day

Drove
back from Houston today trying to get away from all the rain over in
Houston, but to no avail. An Ukrainian teacher pours water
on a boy's head while other children wait for their turn outside a gymnasium
as temperatures reaches minus 10 degrees Celsius (14.00F) in the city
of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Many Ukrainians of different ages continue
a centuries-old tradition of winter swimming or taking ice-cold showers,
which is believed to make people healthier.

December
25

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of the Day

Spent
the afternoon up in Georgetown at Erin's parnets house. After
exchanging gifts we watched a movie and ate a xmas meal of turkey &
ham.West Virginia Lottery winner Andrew
'Jack' Whittaker (R) and his wife Jewell, talk with members of the media
about winning $314.9 million Powerball jackpot drawing Christmas night.

December
26

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of the Day

Venezuelans
sit on containers while lined up outside a gas station waiting to purchase
gasoline in Caracas, Venezuela. President Hugo Chavez's government says
gasoline supplies, which have virtually evaporated during a three- week
general strike, will soon return to normal but mile long lines for gasoline
and cooking gas say otherwise.

December
27

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of the Day

Saw
the new Lords of the Rings movie - Twin Towers, it was so much better
than the first movie. The graphics and special effects were excellent,
and the team of main characters were all developed. I would give it
a 9.5 out of 10. One of the better movies I've seen for the year.An eight-month old rooster weighing
3.3kg, stands on grass at the Hebrew University in Rehovot. Israeli
scientists at the Agriculture department of the university have genetically
engineered bare-skinned chickens as part of a research project to develop
succulent, low fat poultry that is environmentally friendly. The naked
chicken, as the bird has been dubbed, would also save poultry farmers
large amounts of money on ventilation to prevent their chickens from
overheating.

December
28

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The
pregnant version of Midge, Barbie's oldest friend, which pops out a
curled-up baby when her belly is opened.

December
29

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of the Day

A
seven-year-old disabled cat named Cici is helped to walk by a device
as she participates in 'Cat Show 2002' in the western Turkish city of
Izmir. Cici, named ' Pet of Day' in the show, was disabled in a traffic
accident two months ago.

December
30

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of the Day

Nothing
like coming into work after a long weekend to spend your time deleting
off all the junk emails.Nepalese children residing in India
make a snow woman near the India-Nepal border in Darjeeling in the eastern
state of West Bengal. The area is witnessing snow for the first time
since 1997 and temperatures fell to a low of one degree Celsius (33
degrees Fahrenheit) on the border.

December
31

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of the Day

Spent
the evening up in Georgetown with Erin's family, enjoying the sights
and sounds of fireworks, and artillery shells. We started a little
grassfire with fireworks to get warm and burn off all the firework boxes
and garabage. The wet ground was a mud pit from all the rain we've
received over the last week.